


Where in Everywhere

by SeeMaree



Series: One Everywhere [2]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-02-11
Packaged: 2018-03-11 14:49:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3330041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeeMaree/pseuds/SeeMaree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Peeta and Prim dead Katniss has lost the will to live.  Until an unusual option is presented to her.</p><p>A Prequel to One Everywhere</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where in Everywhere

Katniss has barely moved from the chair since she was sent back from the Capitol.

Haymitch tries, but she is willing herself to die. He understands. When she goes he intends to follow close behind. They were tools to the old regime, and tools to the new. Now that they have nothing left to give they’ve been cast aside as useless. This new better world will be happier without them hanging around anyway. Specters of what is better left forgotten.

When Gale Hawthorne shows up Haymitch wonders if he’s hallucinating. Surely that fool knows better than to show his face around here. But no. He is that stupid.

“I heard that Katniss isn’t doing well.” The fool says. “I hoped I could help. Perhaps if I get her involved in something important, something bigger than herself she can come out of this funk.” Haymitch shakes his head in wonder. For someone who claimed to be in love with the girl he certainly is oblivious.

“You still don’t get it do you kid?” The boy glares at him. For all his size and apparent strength he still can’t match the power of Katniss’ glares. It’s probably a victor thing. There’s nothing like the look of someone who’s killed face to face.

“Get what old man? That she needs more than a pathetic old drunk to help her get through this?” The foolish child has always dismissed Haymitch. Never understanding that was another thing driving Katniss away from him.

“That she was never fighting for grand ideals or something bigger than herself. It was always about protecting the people she loves. And by the end that number had narrowed to two people. And you killed them both. She is dying because she doesn’t want to live on without them. You can’t jolly her out of that. You killed her too when you put that gun to Peeta Mellark’s head.” The kid pales and starts shaking his head, and Haymitch rolls his eyes.

“Go on, I dare you. Walk in that house and tell her your big plan to fix your mistakes. She hasn’t been eating so I’d say that you probably stand a fifty percent chance of fighting her off when she tries to kill you.”

The boy walks out without another word. Haymitch listens for a while but hears nothing out of the ordinary. He must have taken himself straight back to the train station. Haymitch doesn’t know whether to call that cowardly or sensible.

Two days later Beetee is on his doorstep. Is he going to be subjected to a constant parade of people pretending concern for Katniss’ welfare?

But Beetee has a different approach. He believes one of his inventions could save her. Haymitch is interested enough to walk across to visit Katniss with him, if only to see what happens.

“What if you could see Prim and Peeta again?” he asks her, and Haymitch resists the urge to drag him out of there right then. He trusted this man once. He has to believe that he’s not teasing her.

Katniss’ head jerks up. “Don’t say their names” she growls, her voice rough from disuse. But he has her attention.

“What if you could go back and save them” Beetee persists. Haymitch can see that Katniss wants to dismiss this foolishness, but hope has flickered.

“How” she demands. Beetee holds out a device. It looks like a comunicuff, with a few additional screens.

“It’s something I discovered a while back. Cracks in the world, at a subatomic level. It wasn’t something I wanted to draw the Capitol’s attention to, so I kept it quiet. But I always thought that with the right device it might be possible to pass through them and see what was on the other side. I was right.” He offers her the device again, and this time she takes it.

“So I can travel back in time?” she asks dubiously.

“I’m not sure. All I know is that test animals, sent with the device on a timer, have mostly returned unharmed. So the trip is survivable. I need a human willing to participate in the next level of testing. Someone with nothing to lose.”

Katniss stares at him intently for a long moment before she nods and starts strapping it onto her wrist.

“If I may be blunt Katniss, it would be better if you would bathe and change your clothing first? Perhaps eat a meal?” Haymitch is amazed to see her look slightly embarrassed. He’s been trying to shame her into some level of self-care for weeks.

When she comes down stairs half an hour later she looks better. Clean and combed, with a bit of the old light in her eyes. She pulls Haymitch aside.

“I’m not stupid, I know this is a crazy thing to do.” She says. Haymitch nods. “But whether it works and I find them, or more likely, if it fails, I’m not coming back.”

“I know sweetheart. I hope you find what you’re looking for.” She tries to smile, but the muscles in her face don’t seem to work right after so much disuse.

“I need to know you’ll be okay.” She looks so concerned Haymitch wants to cry. Doesn’t she understand that she is all that’s been keeping him alive? She reads something in him, and she’s shaking her head.

“Promise me you’ll go to Annie in Four. She needs someone who loved him too. It’s what I would want if I was expecting a baby all alone.” Haymitch doesn’t want to, doesn’t want anyone else needing him, relying on him, but she’s insistent.

Satisfied, she gulps down the bowl of stew he’s warmed for her. She listens carefully to the instructions Beetee gives, and then she presses a button on the cuff and she’s gone. As if she never existed at all.

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Haymitch says into the silence. Beetee shrugs.

“Whatever her future is now, it’s got to be better than this.”

**Author's Note:**

> The origin story, hope you enjoyed, and found a few surprises.   
> Let me know what you think.


End file.
